Drinking aid device for a disposable cup

ABSTRACT

A drinking aid device ( 10 ) for a disposable cup ( 40 ), the device comprising: a wall assembly ( 20 ); a bored lid assembly ( 30 ), wherein the top ( 32 ) thereof is used as the bottom of the drinking aid device ( 10 ); and attaching mechanism ( 26, 36 ) of the wall assembly ( 20 ) to the bored lid assembly ( 30 ) in a sealed manner; thereby allowing drinking the content of the cup ( 40 ) from the drinking aid device rather than from the lid assembly; wherein: the wall assembly ( 20 ) and the bored lid assembly ( 30 ) are separate entities; the wall assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality of entities thereof in an interlaced manner; and the lid assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality of entities thereof in an interlaced manner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 of Israel Patent No. 216971, filed December 14, 2011, and granted Jun. 30, 2012.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of disposable cups. More particularly, the invention relates to a drinking aid device providing comfortable use of drinking from a disposable cup.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Presently, disposable cups are served sealed by a plastic lid having a “small” bore. The lid helps to keep the coffee hot a longer period in comparison to a lidless cup, while the bore is used as an opening through which the user drinks the coffee. In this way, the coffee is held isolated, and therefore is kept warm a longer period, in comparison to a lidless cup, while preventing the coffee from spilling out, especially when the user thereof walks (e.g., in a train station).

However, this facility also has drawbacks: when drinking from a lidless cup, the lips of a user thereof sense the temperature of the coffee, and direct drinking action accordingly. But when drinking through a bored lid, the user is exposed to the heat of the beverage only after it enters into his mouth. In addition, drinking a beverage through a small bore is both inconvenient and unpleasant. Thus, drinking through a small bore is only a compromise.

All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of drinking a beverage through lid of a disposable cup.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a drinking aid device (10) for a disposable cup (40), the device comprising:

-   -   a wall assembly (20);     -   a bored lid assembly (30), which is used also as the bottom of         the drinking aid device (10); and     -   attaching mechanism (such as elements 26, 36) of the wall         assembly (20) to the bored lid assembly (30) in a sealed manner;         thereby allowing drinking the content of the cup (40) from the         drinking aid device rather than from the bored lid assembly         (30);         wherein:     -   the wall assembly (20) and the bored lid assembly (30) are         separate entities;     -   the wall assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality         entities thereof in an interlaced manner (e.g., truncated conic         form); and     -   the lid assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality         entities thereof in an interlaced manner.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the attaching mechanism is based on a protrusion and corresponding depression, thereby allowing producing said attaching mechanism from the same material as of the connectable parts.

The protrusion may be a rolled rim, thereby allowing producing said protrusion by a well known technology.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the top (32) of the lid assembly is inclined and the bore (34) is disposed at the lower side of said lid (32), for allowing fluid remaining in the aid device to return to the cup (40) upon positioning the device (10) horizontally.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the attaching mechanism is based on fixation of the wall assembly to the lid assembly.

The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments and features of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a drinking aid device 10, attached to a disposable cup 40, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the elements illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the elements illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 pictorially illustrates a wall assembly 20, according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 pictorially illustrates a plurality of wall assembly entities 20, stored in an interlaced manner, and a plurality of bored lid assembly entities 30, also stored in an interlaced manner resulting with compact storage thereof.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail.

As mentioned above, by drinking through a bored lid of a cup, the user is exposed to the heat of the beverage only after it enters into the mouth.

The present invention solves this problem by generating an extension cup from a conic wall 22 attached to a bored lid assembly 30, attachable to a disposable cup 40. This way, the user drinks from the extension cup rather than from a bored lid, which eliminates the drawbacks of the bored lid.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a drinking aid device 10, attached to a disposable cup 40, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the elements illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the elements illustrated in FIG. 1.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a truncated conic wall. When the truncated conic wall is attached to the bored lid assembly 30, top 32 of bored lid assembly 30 and conic wall 22 generate a cup, which is referred to herein as drinking aid device 10. Thus, when a user inclines cup 40 to which drinking aid device 10 is attached, the liquid content of cup 40 is poured into drinking aid device 10, from which the user drinks

Thus, the drinking aid device eliminates the drawbacks of a bored lid, since on the one hand it maintains the benefits of the bored lid, while allowing a user to drink from a cup, rather than from a bored lid.

In order to enable attaching wall assembly 20 to bored lid assembly 30, bored lid assembly 30 comprises a depression 36 (slot) at the extent thereof, while wall assembly 20 comprises a corresponding protrusion 26 at the extension thereof. Thus, by mating the protrusion with the depression, bored lid assembly 30 is attached to wall assembly 20.

The attaching mechanism is better seen in FIG. 3.

Of course, the place of the protrusion and the depression can be switched, i.e., the lid assembly and the wall assembly can be designed such that the depression will be a part of the wall assembly, and the protrusion will be a part of the lid assembly.

Furthermore, other attaching mechanisms can be employed.

It should be noted that top 32 of lid assembly 30 is preferably inclined and bore 34 is disposed at the lower part thereof. This way, when cup 40 is placed horizontally, the fluid content remained in drinking aid device returns back to cup 40, through bore 34, thereby kept isolated until use.

Bored lid assembly 30 is a separate entity from wall assembly 20, in order to allow keeping a plurality of each of these entities in a compact manner.

More particularly, although wall assembly 20 can be designed as a cylinder, and still provide its object, by designing the wall as a truncated cone, a plurality of wall assembly entities can be stored in an interlaced manner, i.e., in a compact storing manner. The same applies also for the bored lid assembly 30.

Of course, these are only examples of how to design a wall assembly and a lid assembly such that each of these entities can be interlaced with another entity of the same kind, in order to store a plurality of these entities in a compact manner.

FIG. 4 pictorially illustrates a wall assembly 20, according to another embodiment of the invention.

According to this embodiment of the invention, the wall assembly 20 is attached to the bored lid assembly 30 by fixation. Thus, the size of the inner side of the extent of the wall assembly corresponds to the size of the external extent of bored lid assembly 30. The extent of tab 28, which is a cut cylinder, can be extended, in order to allow easy interlacing of wall assembly 20 to bored lid assembly 30.

FIG. 5 pictorially illustrates a plurality of wall assembly entities 20, stored in an interlaced manner, and a plurality of bored lid assembly entities 30, also stored in an interlaced manner resulting with compact storage thereof.

In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals have been mentioned:

-   -   numeral 10 denotes a drinking aid device, which comprises wall         22 and bottom 32 (which is also used as a top of lid of cup 40);     -   numeral 20 denotes a wall assembly;     -   numeral 22 denotes a conic wall of wall assembly 20;     -   numeral 24 denotes the rim of wall 22;     -   numeral 26 denotes a protrusion in wall assembly 20, which         generates a clipping mechanism with depression 36 of bored lid         assembly 30;     -   numeral 30 denotes a bored lid assembly of disposable cup 40,         which is also used as the base of drinking aid device 10;     -   numeral 32 denotes the top of bored lid assembly 30, which is         also used as the bottom of drinking aid device 10;     -   numeral 33 denotes a cylindrical construction;     -   numeral 34 denotes a bore;     -   numeral 36 denotes a depression of bored lid assembly 30, which         generates a clipping mechanism with protrusion 26 of wall         assembly 20;     -   numeral 38 denotes a depression of bored lid assembly 30, which         generates a clipping mechanism with protrusion 48 of cup 40;     -   numeral 40 denotes a disposable cup; and     -   numeral 48 denotes a protrusion on the rim of cup 40, which         generates a clipping mechanism with depression 38 of bored lid         assembly 30.

The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.

Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should to be interpreted according to this definition.

The reference numbers in the claims are not a part of the claims, but rather used for facilitating the reading thereof. These reference numbers should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A drinking aid device (10) for a disposable cup (40), said device comprising: a wall assembly (20); a bored lid assembly (30), wherein the top (32) thereof is used as the bottom of said drinking aid device (10); and attaching mechanism (26, 36) of said wall assembly (20) to said bored lid assembly (30) in a sealed manner; thereby allowing drinking the content of said cup (40) from said drinking aid device rather than from said lid assembly; wherein: said wall assembly (20) and said bored lid assembly (30) are separate entities; said wall assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality of entities thereof in an interlaced manner; and said lid assembly being designed to allow storing a plurality of entities thereof in an interlaced manner.
 2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said attaching mechanism is based on a protrusion and corresponding depression, thereby allowing producing said attaching mechanism from the same material as of the connectable parts.
 3. A device according to claim 2, wherein said protrusion is a rolled rim, thereby allowing producing said protrusion by a well known technology.
 4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the top of said lid (32) is inclined and a bore (34) of said lid assembly (30) is disposed at the lower side of said top (32), for allowing fluid remaining in said aid device to return to said cup (40) upon positioning said device (10) horizontally.
 5. A device according to claim 1, wherein said attaching mechanism is based on fixation of said wall assembly to said lid assembly.
 6. A device according to claim 1, wherein said interlaced manner is obtained by a truncated conic design thereof. 